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Western Germany (German: Westdeutschland) is a region in the west of Germany. The exact area defined by the term is not constant, but it usually includes North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse. The Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate are also sometimes included but are usually considered Southwestern Germany. Though located in Western Germany, Lower Saxony (including Hamburg) is almost always referred to as a part of Northern Germany both culturally and geographically. Likewise, though to a lesser extent Hesse is considered to foremost be a Central German state.
West of the Harz in Central Germany, or the line between the cities of Hamburg and Munich, is the western part, but again, these distinctions must only be considered very loosely, especially not in a political sense.
Politically, Germans often still identify the term Westdeutschland with the Bonn Republic, the Cold War-era West Germany. Therefore, the English-language distinction between "West Germany" and "Western Germany" is rarely made in German. However, the latter can be specified as der Westen Deutschlands, "the West of Germany."
See also
- Central Germany
- Eastern Germany
- Northern Germany
- Southern Germany